TALKS WITH IONA: CREATE AND FEEL

At Naguisa, we believe in crafts that move slowly and in the hands that shape the everyday. That’s why it meant so much to us when Iona Palau welcomed us into her studio at Can Ginestar in Sant Just Desvern, where she teaches and, wearing her ABRA boots, shared part of her creative process: the calm of each gesture, the patience of the wheel, and her relationship with clay. With her, we talked about what it means to create through process, how ceramics teaches us to look more slowly, and why returning to territory, to material, to craft remains a deeply contemporary way of moving forward.

These processes, like ours, are part of the manual gesture. What value do you think that you have been able to do something for both men?

I believe that it is very important, especially in today's society, that everything is so important, that immediateness, individuality and the fet of having everything are just a click away. Ceramics force you to be very present: if you don't have the five senses, things simply don't work.

But every time more people sign up for classes; When they come into contact with the fang, they are aware of who they want to disconnect from their routine and their digital life . They are not used to concentrating on a single thing without external stimuli - and this is precisely what catches them.

Well, I thought that, as it happens, this boom in ceramics is leading to the extreme and, in many cases, banal. There are often two-hour experiences in “producing fish”, promoting a discourse that goes completely against what ceramics really is: a slow, complex and profoundly technical craft.

Evidently, the problem is not with the people who consume these experiences — in fact, posing on the table the collective need to disconnect from such a frenetic rhythm of life is important.

But, as I understand it, the blame falls on the ceramics professionals who promote this superficial way of understanding and presenting the craft. Because yes, it is important to encourage people to connect and connect, but for me, no
s'hi val de qualsevol manera.

In your classes and in your own teaching you have the focus on the process, rather than the result. Why is this important to your way of looking at work?

I have always been more ideant and creative than ever contemplating the final result. I don't know why, but when the fish come from the forn, it's all over. For me, the truly interesting thing is the fet of tinkering : the trial and error, the experimentation, the brutalization of the mans… much more than the photo finish .
Obviously, there are fish that I love and in which I recognized them, but when I look at them, the one that returns to the capon are the images of the process, not the result.

It will happen exactly this time when the latest exhibition at the Terracotta Museum of the Bisbal d'Empordà, “40º ”, will take place. It is going to be beautiful and it is, of course, the most important professional fit that I have ever acquired as a ceramist. But, tot i això, mai will surpass the congratulations I felt while the creator went to the workshop, muddied from left to right.

Regarding teaching, the best pedagogical line - and possibly also the best personal approach - is to place the focus on the creative process and learning, precisely in contrast to what I mentioned in the previous question. Many people above both want to produce and obtain immediate results, they feel like learning the technique, just trying to replicate an image from Pinterest and losing it, in the process, all that makes ceramics remain so rich.

Working from this gaze focused solely on the final object, for me, does not feel and goes against one's own essence. Therefore, he insists so much on the process: because it is there that the important things happen , the things that really transform and passion.

You teach people of all ages. What do you think of your exchange?

The majority of my students are of very diverse ages : the youngest are five years old and the oldest is over 60. Among these extremes , there are all the stages possible , but the one that surprises me the most is the fact that he shares many more things than he seems to have . Impatience, mistake-making, and frustration are common points that constantly appear, as well as the ones I work hard every day.

After all, the passion, the fidelity and the confidence that they transmit during the classes, here as you see your artistic evolution , is the most gratifying of all.

The one that especially fascinates me is that, over the years, I have built my own style and pedagogical project in ceramics. I can see that, both at Can Ginestar (on five years ago) and at l'Escola Canigó (on porto tres), the teaching has been so good and the methodology has worked so well, that I am extremely happy.

Always said: estic educant in ceramics and through ceramics . I grew deeply in my work as a professor; potser from somewhere
You might think that they are just civic center classes or an extracurricular one, but
but to me it is more than això.

My objective is to convey a sensitivity towards ceramics and, in general, towards everything that is artistic. When I see that això passesa, face that it continued in small doses, I know that the meva feina felt.

Who role does patience play in the new way of teaching and learning?

Patience is everything in ceramics when I learn the technique of truth. I insist very much so that both small and large students understand all the processes necessary to create a piece. Fang is a material that is deeply connected and presses are completely incompatible.

Jo placed patience in two clau moments. The first is learning , especially when you are learning to turn. For me, it is fundamental, because I understand the process through repetition, through "detachment" and carving the fish for the purpose of being able to understand the mistakes. All this requires a lot of patience. I, as some classes have different levels, it is very comforting for them to see that everyone has passed the math processes and that mastering the game is possible.

The second moment is the wait : the serving and cooking times. At any rate, I have quickly made the most of these times of apparent inactivity to invent resources. At the Canigó School, for example, there is a battery of ceramic toys to expand these spaces and turn them into moments that are equally educational and entertaining.

I, of course, sovint —tot that they love these more playful sessions— em ask: “Iona, haven't we made ceramics?” I always answer that, face that we do not try to touch fang to create a piece, always doing ceramics.

The Argila de Sant Just is part of a specific landscape, like the Mediterrani is part of Naguisa. What does it mean for you to work with a material so close to the earth?

Walking around the Argila de Sant Just will be an absolutely chance discovery . Passejant through the Valley, we will begin to collect in a very innocent way because we are in the houses with infants on treballàvem the concept of the environment . From that day on, I have not stopped investigating it.

The one that most fascinates us is its versatility : it serves both for turning and building fish and for converting it into an engalba or courela at high temperature in order to transform it into an enamel — and it is just at this point on the trobo for mateix, a depth in this investigation.

Sovint, when we live in a concrete lloc, we do not value what we have to attract more than outside. But this troball has made me discover and appreciate the Vall de Sant Just , a space that, I sincerely feel, has always generated a certain indifference. Thanks to Argila, I have created a new connection with the people : all I have seen for many years, form part of associations and participate in local activities, but I have felt a relationship as deep as this one.

Furthermore, there is a point that makes me feel very special: being practically the only person who works, this is building a language of my own , an exhaustive record and some very concrete techniques, turning me little by little into a little “expert” of this material, and I love to share with everyone I discover and donate to conèixer the potential that tea.

At a time when everyone is tending towards homogeneity, what value do you think you will return to the premises?

At a time when everything tends towards homogeneity, making the local area of ​​​​immense value . I will want to reconnect with what is my own : the materials of the territory, the techniques that have preceded me, and a way to understand the time and the craft that I have learned have been lost.

Ara bé, per mi només you feel if it is genuine. When returning to the premises becomes a fashion or an aesthetic resource, it loses all its value. Now we see the topic of collecting clay: darrerament has romanticized the process a lot, if there are tags like “salvaged clay”, and many times it is reduced to an Instagram video intended to follow a trend. But if there is no missatge, an intention or a reflection on the material and the one that wraps it, everything remains on the surface.

Due to the ceramic glass, the high temperature fans are highly appreciated and used. As you study, you will notice how – perhaps unconsciously – these materials are revered, while the low-temperature vermell fang, the fang typical of our territory and the most traditional, was relegated to a “segones” material. Since it is cheap and all these connotations, so it is useful to learn, but when above “l'hora de la veritat”, for the final fish, it is replaced by other fangs considered “millors”.

Precisely for now it is most pleasant to work with vermell fang and claim it . I try to convey to the younger students all the possibilities that it offers, reverting the stigma that accompanies it and showing that our local material can be as interesting, rich and versatile as any other. Sometimes I think - or I perceive from the outside - that someone may think that I am "stagnated" in working as a ceramics professor, as if I am not as valued as fer exhibitions or will come with utilitarian fish, as if this one is the only one associated with "prestigi".

Sovint the conversation is: “What do you do?”

“I am a ceramicist.”

“Ah, do you see fish or expos?”

“No, I am a teacher.”

“Ah…” i de cop deixa d'interessar.

But I love feeling that my environment is transforming, that it is proposing new ways of working and experiencing ceramics. I grew up in the power to change things locally, from small, constant and everyday actions.

For me, this is also ceramics: creating relationships, feelings and communities .

Has there been any apprehension that the argilla has donated and that you also end up outside the workshop?

Ugh, annoying. Ceramics have helped me, moreover, to conèixer-me better. When I work, and especially when I turn, it is when I am most connected : I know perfectly how I feel, what is happening and how I should act at every moment.

It has also helped me define myself as a person who has clear values ​​and positions in life.

He has taught me to be humble and generous , to understand that effort, repetition and error are essential for believers. I that learning is much richer than it is shared.

But above all, what I appreciate most about ceramics is that it has given me something that I have always admired in the office: a relationship between learners and teachers . In my house, there is Carme Malaret, where the connection goes much further than the classrooms.

What would you like for people to attend your workshops on learning, more about the work they love?

I would be glad if you understood what ceramics really mean: that it connects the values ​​and the philosophy that surrounds it , that it does not banalize it and that it respects it.

That they learn to value the price and effort that has gone into each piece they see in a fair or in a shop, and that they understand that patience, detachment, error and consistency are essential for learning.

I also saw that they were playing, that they were experimenting and that gaudeixin was brutalizing them ; that I discover the beauty of gaudir of the process and that I understand that the final result is not the only center of all folds. I feel that they are part of a group and a community, that it is important to care and share.

And, above all, it is found that everyone can be creative.